Schuyler's dedication to YMCA core principles serves region

For his dedication, determination and the immense expansion of an organization that serves the entire region, YMCA SouthCoast President and CEO Gary Schuyler is SouthCoast Man of the Year.

ARIEL WITTENBERG

NEW BEDFORD — It's rare for YMCA SouthCoast President and CEO Gary Schuyler to spend an entire day in his office on South Water Street. Most of the time, the 59-year-old is bouncing back and forth between meetings at YMCA SouthCoast's five branches.

Lately, he spends the majority of his time at the Fall River branch, which the regional Y absorbed seven years ago and is now looking to expand. But through the course of his 25-year tenure, Schuyler has extended considerable effort at each branch, from overseeing the merger of SouthCoast YMCA with the Dartmouth Children's Museum, to expanding the Mattapoisett branch into a full-time facility, to building a site in Wareham.

James Hughes, who was board president at the YMCA when Schuyler was hired in 1988, said his dedication and decisiveness is continuously impressive. He calls Schuyler "a corporate guru who knows where we should go and how to get there."

As for Schuyler, ask him which of the YMCA branches is his favorite and he is suddenly indecisive.

"That's like asking me which kid do I like most," he said.

For his dedication, determination and the immense expansion of an organization that serves the entire region, Schuyler is The Standard-Times' 2012 SouthCoast Man of the Year. Nominations for the award came from the community and members of the newspaper staff. Recipients were selected by a newsroom committee.

Schuyler first became involved with the YMCA when he worked at a camp in North Attleboro.

"I wasn't sure what to do with my life, so I signed up for a summer job," he said. "I immediately became enamored with the idea of helping people and the philosophy of the YMCA."

After college at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Schuyler worked at YMCAs in Connecticut, New Jersey and Brockton before coming to SouthCoast.

When he arrived here in 1988, the local branch of the organization was facing immense fiscal struggles, Hughes said.

"The institution was very troubled financially," he said. "We hadn't been able to pay some of our bills and our Camp Massasoit in Mattapoisett was in dire disrepair."

Hired by a unanimous vote of the board, Schuyler set to work, ultimately raising more than $1 million in one year to pay off the organization's bills and renovate the camp site.

"He's just done such a splendid job, more so then we could have imagined," Hughes said. "He has vastly improved what was here at the time and expanded the organization beyond that."

Jim Mathes, YMCA SouthCoast's development director, said Schuyler's determination has not ceased since, with Schuyler demonstrating his dedication to the organization and to the region time and time again.

"He saw a need for a branch in Wareham and found the people to get it done. Then, when they were building that facility, he put a trailer on site and spent most of his time working from there," Mathes said.

Today, YMCA SouthCoast boasts 16,000 members with 1,000 children in day camp and 400 in day care. One in 10 people in the region is involved with the organization in one way or another during his or her lifetime, Schuyler said.

"To be relevant in people's lives; that's something we strive for," he said.

That philosophy has been the impetus behind many YMCA SouthCoast programs. Most recently, the organization has started one that provides cancer survivors with personalized workout plans and group therapy sessions free of charge.

Schuyler is a true believer in the YMCA's core values of youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.

That mission at the national level of the organization, Schuyler said, is something that has led to some unique programming on the SouthCoast, like the Sharing the Harvest farm in Dartmouth.

The farm runs almost entirely with volunteers and donates all the organic food it grows to area food pantries.

"When people think YMCA, they probably think of swimming lessons," he said. "That's part of our healthy living mission, but we also have a mission to be socially responsible, and that's what we do at the farm."

Schuyler said people often tell him they are most impressed by the fact that the farm supplies organic fruits and vegetables to the less fortunate, but he said "the food is only one product of the farm."

"It's about teaching community," he said. "To have a 70-year old get their hands dirty and come out and volunteer — that's what the YMCA movement is all about."

In 2010, the farm was recognized nationally at the general assembly of YMCAs where it was chosen as one of three programs that "best exemplified social responsibilities."

Another part of community service is that YMCA SouthCoast, like all YMCA branches across the country, does not turn away people because of an inability to pay. Schuyler said YMCA officials will work with people to ensure that scholarships are made available to those in need of the organization's service.

"If there's a budding young swimmer out there who can't afford the fees for the swim team, we'll make it happen for them" he said.

Mathes said that directive is one that is particularly important in this region. In the past year alone, YMCA SouthCoast has provided $900,000 in financial aid to allow children and adults to continue using the organization's facilities.

"A big part of Gary's job is raising those funds so we can provide people with the services they need," Mathes said. "There are tens of thousands of people who wouldn't benefit from our programs otherwise. We are very lucky to have him."

Schuyler demurs.

"Everything I have done has been possible because our great staff has stepped up to make a change," he said. "The people who deserve this recognition are the lifeguard who has to come in on a moment's notice because someone called in sick, or the guys that open up the gyms at 5:30 every morning."

"They are who deserve the thanks," he said. "I'm just doing a job I believe in."